Awake

-Are you a God?
- they asked the Buddha.
- No.
- Are you an angel, then?
- No.
- A saint?
- No.
- Then what are you?
-
I am AWAKE.



Einstein

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure of
the universe"-Albert Einstein-


Om Mani Padme Hum

Matthew 25:40

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 7 1-6


1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Herbs - Am I an Idiot or Not?

To answer a question that was not unspoken. Yes, I believe in herbs. Yes, I think that in many cases they are as, or more, effective than pharmaceutical drugs. In many cases those pharmaceuticals that are available by prescription and cost an arm and a leg, or more, are made directly, or synthisized, from herbs. So why not cut out the middleman, so to speak, and take the herbs themselves? Of course it's important to use common sense. You don't just start without understanding what's involved. Also, yes, maybe there are cases where herbs aren't as good, or better, a choice, anything's possible.
Today it's easy to go on the web and do the same research that would have taken days in the past. For example finding out about Bitter Mellon and it's application to diabetics took me just about two hours of research and reading, truthfully I'd never heard of it before but there it was. I did also dig out, and look in, some books I have on herbal medicine, and it was there too, but the computer made it easier, all I did was google diabeties=herbs, and there it was.
Below is a great article on this subject by Dr. John Christopher that I found on the Healing Feats website, and another from the Mother Earth News.

Link to Healing Feats Website

Herbs vs. Modern Medicine
by Dr. John R. Christopher
Ask almost anyone today what they think about herbal medicine and you'll most likely get a response saying how it's unscientific, primitive, unproved, ineffective, possibly dangerous and how it really doesn't have a place in our modern day and age.
However, after having studied herbs for over 30 years, and after having treated untold thousands of patients with every imaginable ailment, I can tell you with authority that there is another side of the story to these commonly accepted beliefs about herbs.
The most commonly accepted fallacy is that using herbs is really a primitive form of medicine. But what would you say if I told you that in 1965, over 130 million prescription drugs were written which came from plants? Or if I told you that over 75% of the hormones used in medicine today are derived completely from plants?
It hardly does justice to herbs to call them primitive and backward, and at the same time, to label drugs as advanced and modern, when so many drugs are in fact derived from herbs.
For example, everyone has heard of digitalis which is a drug used to stimulate the heart. Well, digitalis comes from an herb called foxglove. Another example is the effective anti-clotting agent called coumarol. That too comes from an herb--sweet clover.
Another one is reserpine, which is one of the most popular tranquilizers. It comes from an herb named snakeroot. They used snakeroot for thousands of years in India to calm people down.
Still another example is quinine. Quinine is very efficient in reducing fever, especially malarial fever. This drug comes from the Peruvian bark in South America.
After knowing all this, how can anybody label herbal medicine as "primitive" when herbs were used so effectively for thousands of years? Foxglove for the heart, sweet clover for anti-clotting, Peruvian bark for fevers, snakeroot for tranquilizers. The list is endless.
But there's more. All drugs which are extracted out of plants are not in a whole natural state. This is the reason there are so many side effects, which is a medical problem in itself. I'm sure your readers are fairly well versed with some of the side effects which are caused by drugs so I don't have to go into it. On the other hand, the herbs I use are completely safe, and do not have side effects because they are in a natural state.
You can take all the Peruvian bark tea you want and you won't have any problems. But take a little too much of the quinine extracted from the Peruvian bark and you will grow deaf. Take a still larger dose and you will die.
Another example is white willow bark. White willow bark contains a natural precursor to aspirin. Take a quart of it and you won't have any problems. But take a bottle of aspirin and you might never wake up again.
Now, don't misunderstand me and think there are no toxic plants. There are. But we herbalists know about these plants and stay away from them. Once in a while you may hear a story about someone venturing out into the woods, picking an unidentified plant, chewing it and then getting very ill. This is bound to happen when somebody is not an authority on plants, but it's certainly no reason to condemn the whole field of herbal medicine because of it. The same thing would happen if someone went into a drug store blind-folded, and took a few pills of whatever was on the shelf.
I think I have established the point that herbs are indeed not primitive and that herbs, when used with guidance, are not toxic and have no side effects. So, let me say a few words about the effectiveness of herbs as compared to drugs.
In my thirty years of experience, I have seen some of the sickest people you could ever imagine. You wouldn't believe the number of terminal conditions I have treated in my day. Case after case of people that didn't get will from standard medicines. I don't have to read research reports on whether drugs as a whole are effective or not. I just look at my long waiting list of patients. They are living examples of how effective drugs really are.
I certainly don't want to brag about my accomplishments, but I have helped a tremendous amount of people to get well with herbs. It's the best proof I can possibly offer you that herbs are effective in building a healthy body and alleviating disease.
As time goes on, more and more people are going to wake up to the fact that herbs really are the way of the future. No matter what disease you have, there is an herb growing somewhere which can get you well.
And there is just one more thought I would like to share with you. Please don't think that I'm pushing herbs on you just because I happen to be an herbalist, or that I'm against modern medicines just because I'm not a medical doctor. The only reason I have shared some of my thought with you now is because I just want you to be healthy and be able to lead a long, long life. To me there is nothing more important than to be happy in life and to make others happy. But you can't do this if you yourself are sick and weak. I don't want any of you to suffer like I did. I was born with crippling rheumatoid arthritis. For the first thirty-five years of my life I didn't know a single day of health. I was in a wheelchair most of the time.
If I can spare you any of the suffering I went through, I'll feel that I've accomplished something. I'm almost 70 years old now, and I feel healthier now than I ever have in my entire life. I give more than nine lectures a year and I am constantly on the go. If it wasn't for herbal medicine, I doubt I would be here today.
When the Lord said in the Bible, "...and the fruit thereof shall be for meat and the leaf thereof for medicine", He meant you should only use herbs and plants to treat your ailments. I hope you follow that advice, because I doubt you'll ever regret it. I wish you the best of health.

Here's another good article from Mother Earth News  Link to Article in Mother Earth News

What You Should Know About Drugs vs. Herbs
December 2006/January 2007 By Lynn Keiley & Stephanie Bloyd
Learn what you need to know to choose between drugs and herbs.
Medicines, both herbal and pharmaceutical, are big business. These days, Americans spend $200 billion per year on prescription drugs and $20 billion on herbs and other dietary supplements. When choosing the best remedy or preventive medicine, most of us simply want the safest, most effective option available, whether it’s food, herbs or a pharmaceutical drug. People often turn to supplements because they’re seen as more natural than drugs, can have fewer side effects and generally cost less.
For instance, the popular drug Celebrex, used to treat arthritis, costs more than $4 per day, while ginger supplements, a popular herbal remedy for inflammation, cost about $0.38 per day. The high cost of prescription drugs can cause many to compromise: For example, in 2001 alone, nearly one in four senior citizens reported skipping doses or leaving prescriptions unfilled.
Recent prescription drug recalls, such as the 2004 Vioxx withdrawal, also have cast a dubious light on both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry, prompting more people to turn to nutritional supplements. A September 2006 study on drug safety conducted by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, found that “The credibility of the FDA, the [pharmaceutical] industry, the academic research enterprise, and health care providers has become seriously diminished in recent years. Of particular concern are the common but inaccurate perceptions that the FDA approval represents a guarantee of safety, that approval is based on high degrees of clarity and certainty about a drug’s risks and benefits.”
Though herbal supplements are an attractive alternative to pharmaceuticals, the former actually receives less governmental regulation, so it’s important to be aware of how both industries are regulated, and to do your homework when deciding which treatment is right for you.
Regulation of Drugs
The FDA is responsible for monitoring the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products. While most people assume the agency itself closely tests new drugs, this is not the case. Pharmaceutical companies must provide the FDA with research from clinical trials to prove their new drugs are safe for the market — a practice that unfortunately leaves room for bias, according to Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine.
“Can we believe those trials? After all, that crucial last stage of research and development is usually sponsored by the company that makes the drug, even if the early research was done elsewhere. Is there some way companies can rig clinical trials to make their drugs look better than they are? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Trials can be rigged in a dozen ways, and it happens all the time,” Angell writes in her book The Truth About the Drug Companies (see Mother Earth Shopping to order). Furthermore, FDA approval committees often include members with ties to pharmaceutical companies. In fact, the 2006 Institute of Medicine’s study recommended that the FDA should “establish a requirement that a substantial majority of the members of each advisory committee be free of significant financial involvement with companies whose interests may be affected by the committee’s deliberations.”
Regulation of Dietary Supplement
Alternatively, herbal supplements are regulated as foods in the United States, rather than drugs, under the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA). Supplement manufacturers are responsible for ensuring their products are safe before marketing them, but the manufacturers generally aren’t required to register their products with the FDA, unless the ingredients are new to the U.S. market. The law allows supplement manufacturers to claim their products help “maintain the structure or function of the body” without FDA preapproval or regulation, but they must include an FDA disclaimer and notify the FDA within 30 days of marketing the product. By law, manufacturers may print health claims on the packaging to describe a supplement’s “effect on reducing the risk of or preventing disease” only if the FDA approves use of the claim. The FDA is also responsible for taking action against supplements after they reach the market and problems are reported.
Once a problematic herb appears on the market, it can take years before it’s pulled off the shelves, since the burden of proof lies on the FDA to determine that it’s unsafe. For years, the agency received reports of people suffering heart attacks, strokes and seizures after using the popular weight-loss herb ephedra, and several people died. It wasn’t until the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Belcher, who used ephedra, that there was enough of a spotlight on the herb’s safety to spur the FDA into action. “Consumers are provided with more information about the composition and nutritional value of a loaf of bread than about the ingredients and potential hazards of botanical medicines,” according to Donald M. Marcus, M.D., and Arthur P. Grollman, M.D., authors of a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine.
And yet, consumers are somewhat justified in their comfort with botanicals and other supplements. Far fewer people suffer adverse reactions to herbs than to pharmaceutical drugs. There’s currently no mandatory adverse event reporting system for supplements or nonprescription drugs, so monitoring the number of harmful effects is challenging. However, a study published in The Lancet found that there were only a few hundred calls in one year to U.S. poison control centers involving probable adverse events of dietary supplements. In contrast, another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that there were more than 200,000 adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs reported by hospitals in one year, and half of the reactions were fatal. Although these results were hotly debated in the medical community, a recent report in the United Kingdom also found that nearly a quarter of a million people there were admitted to hospitals in a single year because of adverse drug reactions.
Proving That Herbs Work
There are millions of people taking herbs and other dietary supplements who swear by their efficacy. And though many herbs and supplements are safe and effective, medical science has been slow to verify health claims. While pharmaceutical companies spent more than $51.3 billion in 2005 on drug discovery and development, herbs and other supplements often don’t get big money for research since they can’t be patented for a financial payoff the way pharmaceuticals can.
Noted herbalist James A. Duke, Ph.D., says choosing between herbs and drugs is difficult because the information we need to make these decisions is largely unavailable. To date there have been only a few clinical trials in which the closest herbal medicine was compared to a pharmaceutical drug and a placebo control.
That’s why for years, Duke has been campaigning to get a Congressional mandate that an alternative choice for treating a condition must be trialed along with any new drug in order to determine which is most effective, and just as importantly, which has fewer side effects. Unfortunately many new drugs currently are tested only against placebos, rather than existing medications or herbs.
“If the government really wants to improve Americans’ health, they should mandate independent research to prove that many herbs are competitive with pharmaceuticals,” Duke says. “Herbs are orders of magnitude safer, and they’re also cheaper.”
Mark Blumenthal, founder of the nonprofit American Botanical Council, thinks that if the current regulations were to be fully, consistently and effectively enforced, no further regulations would be necessary. “By law, dietary supplements are foods, not drugs, so they shouldn’t be required to show safety or efficacy in the same way as conventional drugs, which by their very nature are usually novel chemical compounds that have never existed in nature and to which humans have never been subjected.”
Blumenthal’s group and many in the supplement industry support better labeling to clearly indicate a product’s potential to produce adverse effects, as well as to outline conditions when the supplement might create complications or interfere with medications.
Drug/Herb Interactions
Many herbs have been used to treat specific ailments for centuries. But just because a product is natural or has been around for a long time, that doesn’t mean you should assume that it’s safer than pharmaceuticals. Just like interactions between drugs, many herbs can cause adverse reactions when combined with drugs or other supplements. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that among prescription drug users, one in six adults takes at least one herbal supplement along with a prescription drug, and many are completely unaware of the impact one might have on the other.
This lack of information can have serious implications. For example, the popular memory booster ginkgo taken with aspirin may cause bleeding, and St. John’s wort, a popular treatment for depression, can negate the effectiveness of oral contraceptives as well as protease inhibitors used to treat HIV (see “Possible Herb and Drug Interactions”).
Those with existing medical conditions, and pregnant women or those planning to conceive, need to be especially aware of drug/herb interactions, and speak with their physicians before making supplements a part of their health programs, just as they would before taking a prescription drug.
Supplement Standards
Another good reason for doing research before using a new herb is that several recent product review studies have shown that what you get in a supplement bottle may not always be what it says it is. A recent survey of valerian, a popular herb used to promote sleep, conducted by independent testing service ConsumerLab.com, found that many of the brands they tested were low potency or contaminated. Of the eight products they tested, one was contaminated with lead, and two others with cadmium, a heavy metal toxic to the kidneys.
FDA regulations have been introduced that would address these problems. The standards, called the Good Manufacturing Practice Regulations, were allowed for under the DSHEA more than a decade ago; however, the final rules have been delayed in the Office of Management and Budget since October 2005, with no firm release date in sight.
The Natural Products Association has also developed a Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) designation for its members, who may display the GMP symbol on their supplement labels to promote their adherence to quality manufacturing practices. Additionally, both NSF International and the United States Pharmacopeia offer label quality designations for supplement manufacturers. See “Drug and Dietary Supplement Resources” to find out which brands have been tested.
What can you do to protect yourself in the meantime? Do your homework to find out all you can before making any herb or drug a regular part of your health routine. Also be sure to speak with your doctor before taking supplements. So many people are taking alternative medicines these days that some conventional medical practitioners are becoming better informed and more accepting of these treatments. Your doctor should be able to help you avoid complications between the herb and any other medications you might be taking.
It’s important to be aware of any interactions between herbs and pharmaceuticals. Also speak to your doctor before adding supplements to your health routine, just as you would for a prescription medication. Here are some common herb/drug interactions.
Drug and Dietary Supplement Resources
Visit the following Web sites to learn more about supplements and pharmaceuticals, as well as find the latest research:
•ConsumerLab.com
•Herbs for Health magazine
(Click on the “Herbal Library” to access the extensive library of the American Botanical Council)
•Federal Trade Commission
•U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(For drug information)
•Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
(For dietary supplement information)
•Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
•National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
•NSF International
•Office of Dietary Supplements
•United States Pharmacopeia

Lee Murray

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A New Book by Erich Von Daniken

I've been a fan of Von Daniken since reading "Chariot of the Gods" in the early 70's. Even considering that he's been accused of outright fraud and manufacturing evidence, I still think he's on the right track. Of course I believed there were advanced antidiluvian civilizations before I ever heard of him, so I might be a little predjudiced.  Just finished reading "History Is Wrong."  Facinating is a gross understatement.  He talks about several mysterious books among them the Voynich manuscript. A book of text and drawings, the images of unknown subjects and the text written in a mysterious language or code. He also talks about a cave in Ecuidor where there are among other things metal tablets from an antidiluvian civilization. These  were interesting but what I found really interesting was the last section on the Nazca plains, and what they found using scientific tests of the magnetic and electrical properties among other things
I'm not going into a lot of detail or quotes, buy the book like I did, you won't be disappointed. Below is a link to a pretty good review of the book.

Lee Murray

Link to review of History Is Wrong

Friday, May 21, 2010

Herbs That Are Reputed To Help With Diabetes

Plant Insulins and Diabetic Herbs


Diabetes affects more than 16 million people today making it a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. The modern management of diabetes inspite of many advances still remains unsatisfactory. Drug intolerance, hypersensitivity and resistance to insulin etc. makes it all the more important to search for safe, effective and cheaper remedies.
Some such remedies are available from the Indian system of Medicine “Ayurveda”. In recent years, the use of herbs traditionally employed in Ayurveda has yielded positive scientific results. Worldwide, there is an increasing interest in the use of herbs/plants as most of the modern drugs are costly and tagged with serious side effects. Two such highly effective natural hypoglycemic agents are highlighted in this week’s issue.

Coccinia indica

Coccinia indica (Bimba in Sanskrit) known as Ivy Gourd has a long history in ancient Indian medicinal system for its use in diabetes, bronchitis and skin diseases. It is a climbing perennial herb, growing wild throughout India.
Dried extract of Coccinia indica is clinically proven in 30 diabetic patients, where it has been postulated to act like insulin, correcting the elevated enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase and LDH in the glycolytic pathway and restore the LPL activity in the lypolytic pathway with the control of hyperglycemia in diabetics. In yet another double blind controlled trial with a preparation from the leaves of the plant on uncontrolled, maturity onset diabetics, out of the 16 patients who received the experimental preparations 10 showed marked improvement in their glucose tolerance while none out of the 16 patients in the dummy group showed such a marked improvement.
Preclinical studies using extract of leaves of coccinia indica reported that blood sugar was depressed by 23% and 27% in the normal fed and streptozotocin-diabetic rats respectively compared with controls which were given distilled water. Thus extensive studies prove the hypoglycemic activity of the leaf extract of Coccinia indica.

Enicostemma littorale

Mamijava (Enicostemma littorale) is a glabrous perennial herb. Traditionally it is used as a stomachic and bitter tonic, used as a substitute for Swertia chirata (the famous Indian bitter) and hence commonly referred as Chota chirayata.
Recent preclinical data has documented the use of extract of E. littorale proving significant increase in the serum insulin levels in alloxan-induced diabetic rats at 8 h. further investigations led to the results suggesting the glucose lowering effect of extract of E. littorale to be associated with potentiation of glucose-induced insulin release through K(+)-ATP channel dependent pathway but did not require Ca(2+) influx.
Yet another preclinical experimental data suggest that the extract of E. littorale is a potent herbal antidiabetic.

Gymnema sylvestre

This woody climbing plant has been in wide use throughout India for many years to alleviate the complications of blood sugar imbalance (Pati 2001). It seems to “nudge” the pancreas in to secreting chemicals needed by the body to metabolize sugar, fat, and protein into energy and muscle (Sodhi 2001).
Specifically, animal studies have shown it to help double the number of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, and it is thought to enhance the sensitivity of insulin to sugar to enable the body to metabolize sugar more successfully. These characteristics played out in a human study conducted in India and published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology (Baskaran 1990).

Pterocarpus marsupium

A potent flavonoid in this tree has been shown to help regenerate beta cells in the pancreas as well. In a study conducted in India, Pterocarpus helped balance blood sugar and contributed to an increase in beta cell count in laboratory animals (Ahmad 1991).
Scientists have demonstrated similar effects of Pterocarpus in people. For example, researchers in India once studied the effects of this herb in 97 individuals with blood sugar problems and were amazed to find that it helped control blood sugar levels in 69% of them (Seshiah 1998).

Momordica charantia (bitter melon)

The fruit of bitter melon contains several compounds that contribute to its success: saponins, proteins, and a polypeptide called “p-insulin.” Some scientists suggest that this botanical may help inhibit the absorption of sugar into cells without driving insulin levels to unstable levels (Raman 1996). Furthermore, its juice was shown in one study to enhance glucose tolerance in 73% of the participants evaluated (Welihinda 1986).

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Bitter Melon an Herbal Treatment for Diabetes? Other Things?

I went to the Dr. again today. The GP in Waterville. Saw the practicing nurse and was told I am diabetic, that at the last fasting blood test my glucose level was 160, and the normal level is 100 or less preferably. She told me 80-100 is normal and getting to 100 would be great. They gave me a meter and after I got home I tested myself and got three readings the first two were 298 then about an hour later 303. I checked again 4 hours later after eating dinner and it was 230. I went online and found there that 70-110 is considered normal, with after dinner spikes up to 135-140.  However you look at it I may actually have a problem.  I've also been told that diabetes may also present some or all of the symptoms I've been having, or not...  She told me they want me to work on diet and exercise before they consider prescribing medication.

For those interested, I also discovered online several herbs that are reputed to help with diabetes, among them are garlic and cinnamon which I've already been taking for the last month or so to help with blood thinning. The other is called Bitter Mellon, and is alleged to be very effective in lowering blood sugar levels, and promoting insulin production. I've attached an article below. But for more info check out the links at the end or google bitter melon....  I think I'm going to try it, as well as reducing or giving up sugar and salt and improving my diet, giving up Pepsi, bacon, all the good stuff... God I hate that part. What am I going to eat and drink?

Lee Murray

Bitter Melon and Diabetes


Bitter Melon’s powerful insulin lowering properties are currently being looked at as an effective treatment for Diabetes. Studies suggest that Bitter Melon may play a role in controlling the production of insulin by the body, thus promoting blood sugar control. The hypoglycemic effect is more pronounced in the fruit of Bitter Melon where these chemicals are found in the highest quantity. Some of the documented studies show this bitter gourd to enhance cells’ uptake of glucose, to promote insulin release, and to make the effect of insulin more potent. Some even document Bitter Melon’s effect on total cholesterol reduction.
Scientists, natural health practitioners, and others are now focusing on the beneficial properties of this gourd with promising returns. In Ayurvedic medicine, Bitter Melon is seen as a “plant-insulin”, and some studies show that, if administered correctly, it can behave similarly to slow-acting animal insulins which represents exciting potential for a more sustainable, vegetarian, source of insulin. It is not, however, advisable to substitute eating Bitter Melon for taking insulin.
In India, for example, some doctors are so confident about the anti-diabetic effect of Bitter Melon that it is sometimes dispensed in hospitals to people suffering from diabetes. Additionally, the department of Health in the Philippines has recommended Bitter Melon as one of the best herbal medicines for treating diabetes.
There are three groups of compounds in Bitter Melon that scientists have found to be responsible for its blood sugar lowering action:
Charantin: a compound of mixed steroids that has been found to be more effective than one oral hypoglycaemic drug, Tolbutamide.
Polypeptide P: An insuline-like plypeptide which appears to lower blood sugar in type I diabetics. Alkaloids present in the bitter gourd are also noted to have blood sugar lowering effects but researchers are not yet clear on which of the compounds is most effective or if it is the combination of all of them which cuase this effect.
Oleanolic Acid Glycosides: These compounds have been found to improve glucose tolerance in Type II diabetics by preventing the absorption of sugar from the intestines. Biter Melon has also been linked to effects of increasing the number of beta cells in the pancreas as well, and as a result improving the body’s capability to produce insulin.
The statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information contained in this plant database file is intended for education, entertainment and information purposes only. This information is not intended to be used to diagnose, prescribe or replace proper medical care. The plant described herein is not intended to treat, cure, diagnose, mitigate or prevent any disease.
Sources:
http://www.rain-tree.com
http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk (reference 1)
http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk (reference 2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://content.nhiondemand.com

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Update on Mini-Stroke??? Ear Infection??? Latest info again

Saw the Neurologist yesterday, Dr. Johnson. My blood pressure is good, actually lower than it was when I was young (120 over 80 then), sugar is marginal on the bad side.
Apparently, contrary to what I was originally told by others, there may be a problem with the left artery in the back of the neck, narrowing, and that may have caused the stroke symptoms.  But she wants another opinion.
I think the numbness may be starting to go away, I could be wrong and just be getting used to it, but it seems like the top of my head and jawline have more feeling. For instance can now feel it on the right when I brush my hair, at least I think I can.

A Very Interesting Article on the Destruction of Ancient Civilization

Link:     The Great Flood - War In Heaven


Click on the link above and be prepared to spend a few minutes reading a very interesting article by Rhawn Joseph Phd.  I have just a taste below in two paragraphs from the article.

According to the most ancient written records available to woman and man, a god-like people gained dominion over the Earth tens of thousands of years ago. And these titans and heroes of old built great sparkling cities and developed technologically advanced civilizations that ringed the globe.

According to the written records of the Sumerian people, whose own civilization arose 6,000 years ago, the Cro-Magnon peoples and their great cities were destroyed by a cosmic upheaval, when the planet Venus somehow freed herself of Jupiter's grasp, and snaked through the heavens attacking Mars, and then careened close to the Earth, plunging the planet into an icy, watery darkness that was then followed by cataclysmic floods, almost 12,000 years ago.

Lee Murray

Another Ancient (But Possibly Not As Ancient) City Found underwater In India

Here's another article I found online. I've read about this before and it's mentioned in Hancock's book. The fact that so much was discovered and only a few feet down, comparatively, makes you wonder why it's taken so long. I believe you could snorkel at 16-23 feet, and take pretty good pictures, so why isn't it in fifty or a hundred books? Also, it's not really an antediluvian city, as it may be only 3000-5000 years old. The legend  that a city 10000 years ago was submerged in a single day, reminds me of the legend that at one time Lhasa in Tibet was a beach resort and was raised with the Himilayas in a single day. I did just finish a book that proposed the flood was actually a tidal wave caused when a sheet of ice in the Antarctic slid into the ocean.

Lee Murray

Another Underwater City in India

24-Oct-2002
Underwater Bridge
For centuries, local fishermen on the coast of Mahabalipuram in India have believed that a great flood consumed a city over 10,000 years ago in a single day. This story was recorded n by British explorer J. Goldingham, who visited the area in 1798. The legend said there were six temples submerged beneath the water, with the seventh temple still standing on the shore. Now author Graham Hancock thinks he's found them.
?I have long regarded Mahabalipuram, because of its flood myths and fishermen?s sightings as a very likely place in which discoveries of underwater structures could be made, and I proposed that a diving expedition should be undertaken there,? says Hancock.
In April, he made a diving expedition to the area, working with the U.K. Scientific Exploration Society and India?s National Institute of Oceanography. The SES says, ?A joint expedition of 25 divers from the Scientific Exploration Society and India?s National Institute of Oceanography led by Monty Halls and accompanied by Graham Hancock, have discovered an extensive area with a series of structures that clearly show man made attributes, at a depth of (16-23 feet) offshore of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. The scale of the submerged ruins, covering several square miles and at distances of up to a mile from shore, ranks this as a major marine-archaeological discovery as spectacular as the ruined cities submerged off Alexandria in Egypt.?
The NIO says, ?A team of underwater archaeologists from National Institute of Oceanography NIO have successfully unearthed evidence of submerged structures off Mahabalipuram and established first-ever proof of the popular belief that the Shore temple of Mahabalipuram is the remnant of series of total seven of such temples built that have been submerged in succession. The discovery was made during a joint underwater exploration with the Scientific Exploration Society, U.K.?
These investigations reveal stone masonry, remains of walls, scattered square and rectangular stone blocks, and a large platform with steps leading up to it. Most of the structures are badly damaged and scattered in a vast area, with barnacles and mussels growing on them. There are two locations, and the construction design and area is about the same at each. One possible date for the ruins may be 1500- 1200 BC. The Pallava dynasty, which ruled the area during this time, constructed many similar temples.
Durham University geologist Glenn Milne thinks the underwater construction was built closer to 4,000 BC. He says, ??It is probably reasonable to assume that there has been very little vertical tectonic motion in this region during the past five thousand years or so. Therefore, the dominant process driving sea-level change will have been due to the melting of the Late Pleistocene ice sheets. Looking at predictions from a computer model of this process suggests that the area where the structures exist would have been submerged around six thousand years ago. Of course, there is some uncertainty in the model predictions and so there is a flexibility of roughly plus or minus one thousand years is this date.?
Archeologists believe there was no culture in India 6,000 years ago capable of building anything that grand. Could such a culture have been lost during the Great Flood, which is legendary in many different cultures, all over the world. Hancock says, ?I have argued for many years that the world?s flood myths deserve to be taken seriously, a view that most Western academics reject. But here in Mahabalipuram, we have proved the myths right and the academics wrong.
?Between 17,000 years ago and 7000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, terrible things happened to the world our ancestors lived in,? Hancock says. ?Great ice caps over northern Europe and north America melted down, huge floods ripped across the earth, sea-level rose by more than (325 feet), and about (15 million square miles) of formerly habitable lands were swallowed up by the waves.?
Hancock says, ?Of course the real discoverers of this amazing and very extensive submerged site are the local fishermen of Mahabalipuram. My role was simply to take what they had to say seriously and to take the town?s powerful and distinctive flood myths seriously.? To learn more about Graham Hancock?s explorations, click here.
Besides deep diving explorations, ancient submerged structures have also been discovered from space. Space NASA satellite images have revealed a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The bridge has been named Adam?s Bridge and was created from a chain of shoals, about 18 miles long. It?s unique curvature reveals that it?s manmade.
Archeological studies reveal that the first human inhabitants of Sri Lanka came to the island around 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge is about the same age. This is in line with a legend called Ramayana, which dates from more than 1,700,000 years ago. In this epic, a bridge was built between Rameshwaram (India) and the coast of Sri Lanka under the supervision of the god-like Rama.

Ancient Library of Ebla - Possibly the Oldest Discovered to Date

The Ebla tablets were found in Syria. There are as many as 1800 complete clay tablets, and thousands of fragments and minor chips. They were found in the palace of the city of Ebla, Syria, by Italian archaeologist Paolo Matthiae and his team in 1974–1975. The excavation at Tell Mardikh, resulted in finding the tablets,some still on their shelves. They date to between 2500 BC and the destruction of the city around 2250 BC. They may be the oldest and the largest library yet found in the middle east.  Two languages appeared in the writing on the tablets: Sumerian, and an unknown language that used the Sumerian cuneiform script as a phonetic representation of the locally spoken Ebla language. It was initially identified as pre-Canaanite by Giovanni Pettinato, who first deciphered the tablets, as it predated the Semitic languages of Canaan, like Ugaritic and Hebrew. Pettinato later decided to call it "Eblaite", the name by which it is known as today.
The tablets were found just where they were when their shelves were burned in the final destruction of  the library. The books was kept in two rooms, one smaller room had only business records engraved on round tablets, a larger room held both ritual and literary books, and texts for teaching scribes. Many of the tablets were preserved by the fire that destroyed the building. They had been stored upright in wooden shelves.  The burning shelves collapsed, preserving the order of the clay tablets.
The tablets decribe Syria and Palestine in the Early Bronze Age, including the first known references to the "Canaanites", "Ugarit", and "Lebanon". The tablets show that Ebla was an important trade center. The focus was on business records, and inventories of Ebla's business and political activities and policies with other cities, and logs of the city's imports and exports. They reveal that Ebla produced among other things beers. One named "Ebla."  There also appears to be a trade network system between cities in Syria, grouping the region into a community, as shown in the tablets.
There are lists of ordinances, edicts, treaties. There are lists of  place names, including a standardized list also found at Abu Salabikh, possibly ancient Eresh, it was dated to 2600 BC. Other texts include hymns, rituals, epics, and proverbs.  Many tablets have both Sumerian and Eblaite inscriptions with  three bilingual lists showing words in both languages. This allowed scribes and scholars a better understanding of the Sumerian language, which at that time was still a living language.
Until this discovery of these tablets there were no bilingual dictionaries of Sumerian and other languages, making pronunciation and phonetics of the language difficult. The only tablets written in just Sumerian are probably used for training meaning that this was a school for scholars or scribes. With the dictionaries, were lists of Sumerian words and their pronunciation in Eblaite.
Rituals like the release of a scape goat were immediately recognized as ancient Near Eastern parallels to Hebrew practice in the first millennium, recorded in Leviticus 16.
The application of the Ebla tablets to places or people from the Bible resulted in controversies, as to whether or not the tablets references confirmed, the existence of Abraham, David, Sodom and Gomorrah among others. These claims coupled with delays in  publication of the texts, became an academic crisis.  Now though the consensus is that Ebla's role in biblical archaeology is minimal.

Lee Murray

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Buddha explained, "All human beings have 83 problems," from an excellent article at Beyond Blue written by Therese Borchard

I found this article very helpful and am passing it along to any readers that may also. You'll find it below as I found it. It was written by Therese Borchard who is the author of the blog Beyond Blue on Beliefnet.com, Beyond Blue  and is featured in the Huffington Post. She's also the author of  "Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes" and "The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit."
I've read several of her articles, she has a great deal of insight.

Lee Murray

Mindful Monday: All Human Beings Have 83 Problems

Monday August 3, 2009
Categories: Mental Health
On Mindful Monday, my readers and I practice the art of pausing, TRYING to be still, or considering, ever so briefly, the big picture. We're hoping this soul time will provide enough peace of mind to get us through the week!
I sometimes think that the kids who had it hard growing up have a substantial advantage over the brats who were fed from a silver spoon when it comes to handling problems that they will encounter in their lives.
Take my friend, Vickie.
When she was two, she was running with a glass ornament in her hand. She fell, the ornament shattered, and the glass cut out her right eye.
She was never the same.
Wearing an eye-patch through her grade school, adolescence, and high school years, she was mocked by classmates, called a monster, and treated terribly. She felt ugly and unlovable, so she turned to food to comfort her and gained weight.
One day a man approached her and told her he could fix the eye ... give her a glass eye that perfectly matched the other one. She couldn't believe her luck! From that hour on, she has told me numerous times, she never really had a bad day. Because she always compares her current trials and tribulations to the days of the eye-patch, and she'll take the news problems hands down.
"Think of it this way," she told me the other day. "If you begin your day with the simple motto, 'Life is crap,' then it can only get better from there!"
This is, in fact, the First Noble Truth of Buddhism: "Life is suffering." To be human is to experience pain.
In his book, "Eastern Wisdom for Western Minds," Victor Parachin tells of a great tale about an old farmer and the Buddha. He writes:
An old farmer went to the Buddha seeking help for his problems. First, he had professional problems. In his part of the world, farming was extremely difficult and his work completely vulnerable to weather. Even though he loved his wife, there were certain things about her he wanted to change. Similarly, he loved his children, but they weren't evolving the way he had hoped and anticipated. Listening carefully as the man explained his frustrations with life, the Buddha responded, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you."
"What do you mean?" questioned the farmer. "You're a highly regarded great teacher who has insight into all of life's problems."
"All human beings have eighty-three problems," the Buddha explained. "A few problems may go away, but soon enough others will arise. So we'll always have eighty-three problems."
The farmer, both indignant and frustrated, asked, "So what good is all of your teaching?"
To which the Buddha replied, "My teaching can't help with the eighty-three problems, but perhaps it can help with the eighty-fourth problem."
"What's that?" the farmer asked with great curiosity.
"The eighty-fourth problem is that we don't want to have any problems."
Parachin goes on to explain that even the most spiritual among us have problems. He writes:
Oddly, the illusion that life should be free of suffering is often heightened in those who pursue spiritual practices, because they erroneously believe that all problems will disappear if one is "spiritual" enough. Thinking the right way, speaking the right way, acting the right way--none of these can provide immunity to problems, although these practices can prevent many issues and minimize the fallout. What spiritual practice can do is help us deal with those matters in a calmer, more balanced way. The Buddha is right: Because we live in an imperfect, messy world, we will always have "eighty-three" problems. Expecting not to have problems is one of our great illusions about life. If he were here today, the Buddha might very well say: "Get real. Wake up. Abandon the illusions about how life should be and face life as it really is."
So, even though it sounds negative to start off your day with "life is crap," it can actually help you deal with reality in all of its rudeness and inconvenience. It means starting the day with an understanding of the First Noble Truth. And, just like Vickie said, it can only get better from there!

Filed Under: acceptance, Beyond Blue, Buddhism, depression, problem-solving, problems, Therese Borchard
posted by Beyond Blue @10:00am

Monday, May 10, 2010

Was Just Turned On To Excellent Blog

Just turned on to an excellent blog called The Automatic Earth. It's primarily focused on world news and economics, but there are other interesting subjects too. It was referred to me for an interesting article on time travel by Stephen Hawking. There are also facinating articles on the oil crisis in the Gulf, which if they're correct is MUCH MORE SERIOUS than we've been led to believe, by our media or government, as usual I guess.  Check it out...

Anyway here is a link: The Automatic Earth

Links to interesting articles that I found there
:
End Of Unemployment Checks Will Mean No Income To Many
                                       
Long Term Unemployment: THe Bad News in the Jobs Report  

How To Build A Time Machine - Stephen Hawking

Nobody Knows the Trouble We'll See

Lee Murray

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Are Aliens Among Us? "They Live"

Watching a facinating movie called "They Live," with Roddy Piper, who as an actor makes a great wrestler. I'm kidding he's really not that bad, no worse than Arny, Sly, Jean Claude, or any of the others.  I've seen this movie several times, and while it's crazy and fantastic on the surface, it certainly makes you think. In the movie aliens are here, living among us, disguised to look like us. The are everywhere, in the police, government, media, business owners, and among the ordinary people.  Piper's character is as unaware as the rest of us.  Then he stumbles onto a box in a dumpster that contains dozens of sunglasses. He puts on a pair, and suddenly the world changes. Billboards that had said "Visit Cancun" with a pretty girl in a bikini on a beach, suddenly show subliminal slogans. The same thing is true of magazines, newspapers and TV all have subliminal messages, ie consume, obey, marry and reproduce, the money has "this is your God" printed subliminally under the engraving. Looking at people he sees the aliens as they really look, and removing the glasses he sees them disguised. It goes on from there but that isn't why it's facinating.
Suppose for a second that aliens are already here living among us, many of us think they are.
Or if not, suppose for just a second that the "ruling elite," not necessarily aliens, just greedy, power hungry, covetous humans are using subliminal messages in the media to control the rest of us, the workers that make their lives possible.   It wouldn't be that difficult for it to happen, and could have been going on for a long time. 
Even the government could be using subliminal messages, war is good, die for your country, pay taxes, pay more, work for less, marry and reproduce (that one would mean more future tax paying workers to support the government and the elite).... 
I'm putting some links below that have quite a few examples of subliminals that have been, or are in use in the media.   Take a look and think about it.

Lee Murray



Monday, May 3, 2010

You Can Comment On Or Follow This Blog If You Want To

Hint, Hint....  
My philosophy in starting and writing this blog was to post about things that interest me,  pretty much everything does, and if other people were also interested great, if not also great. My friend and so far only follower calls this is a lofty perch.  The other thing is that I don't pretend to be an expert on anything I talk about, I have some knowledge true, and lots of opinions, theories, guesses, conspiracies, whatever, but I've been wrong before and will be again, so I don't worry about it.  But I'm sure many of the people that have visited are as knowledgable or more, and able to add to, or correct if needed something I've said, or suggest other things to talk about...
For example, one commenter mentioned some of the sacred books of India, which got me looking at the Shiva Samhita again, then the Gita again, and now I'm rereading the Mahabharata again, (the one by William Buck), I have the 12 volume set but it's not as easy to get to. Which proves that comments are useful, educational and motivating. I hadn't read any of these for several years, after packing most of my books for sale, but keeping a lot, don't worry, for an eventual move back to Calif.  He started me thinking so I dug some out. 
So anyway, the point of all that is, if you want to follow please do, if you have a comment critical or not, don't be shy, tell me, if you have a subject to discuss, tell me that...  If you have a blog that you think would interest me or that I'd want to follow, please tell me.

By the way, my friend, and so far only follower "MorongoBill," mentioned above, has his own blog, dedicated to preventing the area of the California desert around the Morongo National Preserve, as well as other areas, being overrun by industrial solar and/or wind farms. Which amazingly, I have learned from him and other environmentalists he's turned me on to, will destroy habitat of the desert turtle and many other species native to the area, as well as the views. Personally, I'm a mountain person, I prefer the woods, and streams, to the sand and creosote bushes of the desert. But amazingly reading Bill's blog, and those he's pointed out, has got me thinking the desert has a lot more to offer than just a place to 4wheel, dirtbike, or go shooting. Check out his blog by clicking on the link, or going to  http://morongobillsbackporch.blogspot.com/

Lee Murray

Betting on the Kentucky Derby

I was telling a friend how I bet on the race, and he thought it would make a good post. So here it goes.







Truthfully I wasn't even aware the race was on, (no reference to George Jones), until my sister mentioned that she'd bet. Then my mother called a friend and asked her to bet for her. I don't really gamble any more after quitting in '79, except for a couple slips here and there. But I figured why not?  Just a few bucks, if I lose, which I will, no big deal. So I went on line to my Twinspires account, made a deposit, and took a look at who's running. Then I looked at who the 5 touts were recommending. I had a brilliant idea. I listed the horses the touts were recommending. Then I put the number of touts that had recommended it next to each horse. That's my brilliant idea, my "system."  I put $20. to win on the three with the biggest number of touts, numbers 1, 16, and 10.  Then reading several other sites talking about the race and the bad rain and thunderstorms they were expecting on race day, I went back to my list and checked off all the horses that were good in the mud. Those were numbers 10, 11, 4, and 14. I wasn't looking at the whole field, just the horses recommended by the touts.  So then I placed  $20. to place on each of these, then wanting to be fair, I bet another $20. to place on 1 and 16. Finished I'd bet 180. on six horses, three to Win and Place, three Place only. Hindsight being 20/20 I now know I should have bet Show instead of Place, or maybe bet Win/Place/Show... But anyway the race came, and 4 Supersaver won, and was one of the Place bets, 10 Paddy O'Prado came in 3rd which if I'd bet Win/Show instead of Win & Place, would have paid off too. But, as it turned out I won $88. on Supersaver, and that was pretty good. We won't talk about the $92. I lost....  I'm A Winner!!!, (no reference to Bobby Bare either)

Lee Murray

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Age 7 End of Kids Psychic Abilities

I don't know if it applied to me, or to any friends I had at the time, I don't remember.  But from what I've learned, most, if not all, children are born with a natural psychic ability. Unfortunately it starts to go away as we age and is pretty much gone in most of us by age seven or so. 
So those who have small children should pay attention to them just in case. Do they have friends or playmates you can't see? Do they know things they couldn't or shouldn't know? 
But again, unfortunately, most people have no knowledge or interest, and think of their kids as little thems. The possibility the kid may have psychic abilities never occurs to them, and if the kids say something, they are generally accused of making things up, or playing games.

Lee Murray

Weird??? Memory from Childhood

I remember when I was a kid, probably three or four, before I started school. We were living with my mother's parents in their home on Fair St. in Oxford. My grandmother played music on the radio during the day. I remember holding the radio and staring into the speaker grill. I used to see  a singer at a microphone inside the speaker. Weird, huh?  My grandmother, of course, told me I was imagining it. As time went on it went away when I stopped looking, or believing, or grew up, or something...

Lee Murray